Enterprise 05-21-03 (Season Finale)

[fba827]

<snip>
Basically, Berman says a 9-11 analogy wasn't intdented from the beginning. He says they went back and copied elements from Trek films, though he claims they borrowed from IV and VIII. He does admit that there are parallels to 9-11, though that wasn't the focus they were going for from the start.

Yeah, I gotta say while there were parrallels, it was not necessarily intentional as suggested earlier.

I mean, I have been using the "attack without warning followed by disbelief, etc. etc." scenario in games long before the 9-11 situation. It may have had similarities in its basic core but intention was not necessarily present.

And, as Orius has found, it apperently wasn't intentional when developed.

 

[Mark]

Come to think of it, did Voyager even have a science officer? Not that I recall.

I don't remember if their Science Officer died (they lost a few people early on to the Caretaker) or if they just didn't have one since their mission was just to chase down and capture one specific Maquis ship. In any event, Janeway was a Science Officer before being promoted to Captain so she could function as her own (and did, bouncing ideas off of Torres, mainly, and Seven, later in the show's run.)

 

[Orius]

I don't remember if their Science Officer died (they lost a few people early on to the Caretaker) or if they just didn't have one since their mission was just to chase down and capture one specific Maquis ship. In any event, Janeway was a Science Officer before being promoted to Captain so she could function as her own (and did, bouncing ideas off of Torres, mainly, and Seven, later in the show's run.)

Yeah, I know they lost people, the ship's doctor, the first officer, and the con officer. I know they also didn't include some types of crew members, like a councilor, because it was supposed to be a short mission. So science officer could fall under either category.

Though I guess we're really talking about a story-external exclusion here, that is there was no science officer because the producers didn't put one in, not because he or she died on the way to the Delta Quadrant. After all they killed off the officers I mentioned above to make room for the main cast members.

 

[Mark]

Yeah, I know they lost people, the ship's doctor, the first officer, and the con officer. I know they also didn't include some types of crew members, like a councilor, because it was supposed to be a short mission. So science officer could fall under either category.

Though I guess we're really talking about a story-external exclusion here, that is there was no science officer because the producers didn't put one in, not because he or she died on the way to the Delta Quadrant. After all they killed off the officers I mentioned above to make room for the main cast members.

Yup. It seemed to be an effort to get Janeway more involved in that area, much as Picard was "the Diplomat", I suppose.

 

[Mistwell]

I thought the episode was great. Then again, in general I really like Enterprise, which puts me alone among my sci-fi loving friends actually.

I'm quite pleased the show was renewed for next season. In my opinion, this show has the best acting, at this stage, of all of the Trek shows. I felt Next Generation had better acting in the last couple of seasons...but far worse for the second season than Enterprise has had.

 

[Blockader7]

T'Pol can NOT become the first Vulcan in Starfleet. That title is SPOCK'S.

 

[Mark]

Maybe they'll offer he a commission and she'll turn it down on principle.

 

[S'mon]

The third problem I have is with "Quantum Dating" and I have no idea why someone else hasn't jumped all over this yet. If something exists, no matter in what timeline, it must have been around for a period of time and I would think that it's elements would show to have been converted/transformed/mutated/refined or whatever "a certain amount of time ago" no matter at what point they would have been scanned. To whit, if a device is manufactured 432 years before, but is brought forth in time 400 years, would it not scan as being manufactured 32 years before? If something is manufactured 432 in the future, sits on a shelf for thirty-two days, is brought back in time 432 years, and sits in a hanger for two months wouldn't it scan as being manufactured three months ago?

In reality, yes, since as Einstein demonstrated, time is relative, not a Newtonian Universal Constant. However Trek writers like to use words like 'quantum' without having any idea what they're talking about. They seemed to assume some absolute frame of temporal reference against which the parts were -403 (etc) years old.

 

[S'mon]

The episode aired in the UK on Monday. I thought it was functional - setting up a new threat, moving on the timeline - though not particularly well done. The probe attack seemed poorly handled and made little sense - attacking a populated but not strategically important part of Earth as a 'test fire' - annoying the humans but not impeding their ability to fight back. In reality attacks are either to 'send a message' or 'damage the enemy', or both - the intent of this seemed neither. They were just checking if it worked?!

I did like Admiral Forrest's talk with Archer about the Marines and questioning how he'd work with 'the military' - reminding us that Starfleet claims to be 'non-military'(!) even in this early era. It left me wondering who these military are - a national (US?) military, a United Earth military, or something else? It should be interesting to see.

 

[Jemal]

In reality, yes, since as Einstein demonstrated, time is relative, not a Newtonian Universal Constant. However Trek writers like to use words like 'quantum' without having any idea what they're talking about. They seemed to assume some absolute frame of temporal reference against which the parts were -403 (etc) years old.

Or you could look at it this way.
Accepted Scientific Fact#1: The universe is expanding all the time.
Accepted Scientific Fact#2: Matter cannot be created or destroyed, only rearanged.

Therefore, the density of the universe becomes less as the Universe expands, meaning the farther back in time, the more densely packed the matter in the universe, and the farther forward, the LESS densely packed.

Possible Trek Science conclusion: The density of the universe when something is created affects its molecular structure, and this 'device' reads the molecular structure to find out the density of the universe, then extrapolates the 'temporal date' of the object it reads and displays it in relation to the current temporal date.
The only thing I haven't figured out is wouldn't that mean that everythings molecular structure is undergoign 'constant' change?
So there's still a few bugs, but if you ignore the little inconsistencies (Which is what you're supposed to do in a science FICTION show) it works.

And you know the weird part? According to advanced Quantum Theory, that's possible... Not with our current technology, but it IS theoretically possible.

Which could explain why they call it 'Quantum' Dating.